A young mother watched in horror as a gunman hit her child in the face after fleeing from an armed raid on a Oxford post office.

Denise Presley, 29, flinched as the man careered into her daughter before running off. It was then she saw he was carrying a gun and froze on the spot.

Mrs Presley, from Rose Hill, who was shopping with her son, Ashley, four, and daughter Kirsty, nine, said: "I was about to shout at him for hurting Kirsty, and then I saw he was holding a gun.

"I was going to shout something at him, but I didn't know if it was loaded. I thought, I'm not risking my life, and just said nothing."

Seconds later, she heard another shout from behind and a second man came hurtling down the alleyway off Cowley Road. The two men, who had just grabbed cash from shocked staff at the Glanville Road post office at Saturday lunchtime, jumped into a blue Ford Escort parked in Ridgefield Road, which was driven off by a third accomplice. It was later abandoned in Magdalen Road.

The amount of cash stolen has not been disclosed, and staff at the post office and convenience store, which is believed to have been raided several times before, would not comment.

Another eye-witness, Sarah Newton, 26, said she had been on a bus passing the scene when the drama unfolded.

She said: "A man wearing a woolly balaclava ran out of the post office and rushed off down the street behind our bus. Everyone was watching." The first man is white, but with an eastern European appearance and of short build. He was wearing jeans and a blue and white bomber jacket.

Witnesses are asked to call police on 01865 266333, or Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555111.